Pillai’s probe can scuttle reconciliation – spokesman

 Saturday, 05 July 2014 

Referring to the call by UN human rights chief Navi Pillai for an international investigation into war crimes and human rights violation charges, president’s spokesman Mohan Samaranayake says he believes the whole exercise which is politically motivated can have very dangerous damaging negative consequences on the situation in the country.

“It can scuttle the fragile reconciliation process. It can harm the ongoing development projects,” he has warned in a special interview he has given to Lankapuvath.

Excerpts of the interview:
“The Government position in this regard has repeatedly been stated by relevant authorities. For example our Ambassador in Geneva at the 25th UN Human Rights Council session and at various other fora this position was stated. The position is that this whole exercise is politically motivated. It is unwanted, unfair, unjust and counterproductive. This exercise breaches the accepted norms of international relations. There are no provisions in the United Nations Charter on which the organization is funded, to go for country specific, country selective punishment procedures. If there is a ground to do so it has to come from the UN General Assembly. It is really clear now that this is a politically motivated process that will ultimately help the separatist elements, separatist forces and it will lead to destabilization of the country and it will scuttle on-going difficult reconciliation process.

“If I am to give some examples for the unfairness of this exercise, Sri Lanka has faced a terrible separatist war for nearly three decades. That war was started by a separatist outfit called LTTE, Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam. The United States which is the main sponsor of this resolution in one of its government reports described LTTE as the World’s most ruthless terrorist organization. LTTE was killing everyone and destroying everything on its way. They decimated almost the entire Tamil moderate leadership. They killed children, they killed priests, young and old alike, and they destroyed places of worship. So Sri Lanka had to face this terrible separatist war. Successive governments tried to solve this problem through negotiations. But due to LTTE intransigence all these efforts went fruitless. That is why at the end the government was compelled to launch a humanitarian mission to save the nation and to save the country. It is the duty of the United Nations to support its member countries. UN is an organization of member countries. That is what we embrace basically as the government position in this regard.

“There may be instances where the government may have to look into whether violation of international human rights law and the international human rights law has happened. There is further a need to embark on a process of national reconciliation and to heal wounds that occurred during the nearly 30 year war. That is why the government appointed several commissions, in the first place the LLRC, Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission which identified various numerous grievances and short comings and its recommendations are now being implemented. But it was also a nearly a three decade long war. There are numerous difficulties and problems that still need to be tackled. You cannot do all these things within five years. Within the last five years after the end of the war with LTTE so many things have been done. This so called international human rights crusaders are not concerned about what has been done. For example nearly 200,000 or more people have been already resettled. All former combatants have been rehabilitated and reintegrated into the society. All child soldiers who engaged in brutal atrocities have been handed over to their parents and the building of reconstruction of the devastated areas that were affected by the conflict is going on. Schools, hospitals are being rebuilt and elections have been held. Therefore, these things have to be taken into consideration by those forces who are allegedly concerned about the human rights violations in this country.

“Further the government believes and government says firmly if there is evidence that more has to be done, that there have been such further incidents, the government is ready to look into these allegations.

“I must say that this international probe is not really independent. It is highly prejudiced from the very beginning. For example a terrorist leader whose name was Kaushalya, when killed while in action, the former UN Secretary General sent a condolence message. It is surprising and unprecedented that a UN Secretary General should lament on the death of a terrorist leader who is guilty of killing so many number of innocent people and unarmed civilians. So this process has been biased right from the beginning. It is politically motivated; it is to support the separatist forces without having any consideration about the agony that Sri Lanka had to undergo. And the outgoing UN Human Rights High Commissioner, Ms. Navi Pillai, really she’s already gone recently said that new evidence has been found that nearly 40,000 civilians have been killed towards the end of the war. If so and if she has substantial evidence to prove this allegation, then the former UN Human Rights High Commissioner can place these evidence before the government. The Sri Lanka government is ready to investigate all these allegations. But one cannot go ahead with unfounded, unsubstantiated evidence because these figures have been given not by an international body but by LTTE supporters, LTTE supporting diaspora living in the West. So if there is genuine evidence, they must be placed before the government in order for the government to conduct a credible investigation.

“I believe this whole exercise which is politically motivated can have very dangerous damaging negative consequences on the situation in the country. It can scuttle the fragile reconciliation process. It can harm the ongoing development projects. Now there is peace in the country after 30 years of brutality. Now no one is being killed by suicide bombers. There are no night attacks on Army camps or no bomb explosions in passenger buses. So there is peace in the country. There is stability and country is progressing”. 

July ’83 and June ‘14  SL Muslims at the cross roads – 6 

By Izeth Hussain-July 4, 2014

Whom the Gods wish to destroy, they first drive mad. – Greek saying

There has been much thinking, writing, and discussion on the Aluthgama/Beruwela outrages, so that we can now try to draw conclusions with some measure of confidence about what those outrages really signify. There seems to be a fairly widespread notion that July ’83 and June ’14 constitute two great divides in Sinhalese/minority relations, with the difference that that in 1983 the outrages were of course much worse. Both divides had behind them two common factors: an excess of drunken power compounded by ethnolunacy in the two Governments of the time.

It has been well-established, buttressed by an abundance of evidence, that excess of power can be lethal both to a country and to the Government itself. It is well-known that an excess of power usually has two terrifying consequences: a weakened grasp of reality, and an inability to distinguish between right and wrong. Both those consequences involve a relegation to the background, or a going into total abeyance, of the rational faculty. Both Governments were notoriously racist, and as I have shown in my last article irrationality is an integral part of racism, - and hence my neologism “erhnolunacy”. The convergence of excess of power and ethnolunacy had, in terms of my argument, to lead to disaster.

The 1977 Government’s election victory was so overwhelming that it went to its head. The Opposition was not worth speaking about, and the civil society was not much more animate than a door mat, so that there was an excess of power which the Government drunkenly abused in a way that no previous government had ever done. Its ethnolunacy went to an extreme in 1983, spawning a 26-year war. By 1988 we had two rebellions going on at the same time, that of the LTTE and the JVP, and the IPKF troops were here, which meant that we had lost control of a third of the country and almost half the coastline. It took until 2009 to put the country together again. The UNP taught us a lesson about the terrible consequences of excess of power and ethnolunacy, but the MR Government seems to be, stunningly and incredibly, engaged in a repeat performance. It is quasi-democratic but its neo-Fascism is growing and it can well destroy what is left of democracy. Its ethnolunacy has spawned another major ethnic problem, the Muslim one, which, as I argued in my last article, is surely an achievement of mind-boggling grandeur.

I will now make some observations on the significance of June ’14, an anti-Muslim racist onslaught, which clearly demarcates a new divide in Sinhalese/Muslim relations, and thereafter I will focus on the countermeasures that might be taken by our Muslims to safeguard their lives and their legitimate interests. I must declare that I regard June ’14 as the maturation of the present Government’s racist anti-Muslim project. For two years the Government has shown in every way possible, except by way of explicit dclaration, that it is supportive of the BBS’ anti-Muslim campaign. That was shown also at Aluthgama/Beruwela. The details are well-known, so that I will mention just a few of them in support of the charge that I am making. The Police gave permission to hold the BBS rally although Azath Sally had pointed out the practically certain outcome; Gnanasera Thero gave his rabble-rousing speech to a yelling crowd of thousands, most of whom had been brought in from outside Aluthgama;; the violence against the Muslims, and the arson against Muslim business premises was perpetrated by thugs brought in from outside; the Police as usual played for the most part the role of passive spectators. What happened at Aluthgama/Beruwela was a government-backed racist anti-Muslim pogrom.

I must make a couple of clarifications before I proceed further. What exactly do I mean by ‘government’ in the present context? The government today is an amorphous body that totally lacks cohesion. Ideals and principles departed from our politics many moons ago, so that many politicians who don’t belong to the SLFP have joined the Government side mainly or only because they want to enjoy power and the perks of power. By “Government” in the present context I mean President MR, the JHU members, all those who support the Government’s anti-Muslim project, and also all those who fail to speak out against it. I exclude therefore the Muslim politicians who speak out against that project and others like Vasudeva Nanayakkara.

By the Government’s anti-Muslim project I don’t have in mid anything that is explicitly declared by the Government, but what is implicit, very clearly and incontestably implicit, in Government backed anti-Muslim action. The project essentially amounts to this: the Muslims must be reduced to a condition of total subjugation to the will of the Government representing the Sinhalese. The Muslim is not entitled as a matter of course to protection under the rule of law. The Sinhalese is also denied that protection, but that is sporadically whereas the Muslims - the victims of the BBS campaign – have been denied it on a systematic basis for the last two years, and spectaclarly at Aluthgama/Beruwela. In addition, during this time when ethnic groups are competing for scarce resources, Muslim business can be put into Sinhalese hands by devious means. Such, in essence, is the Government’s anti-Muslim project.

What should the Muslims do to protect their legitimate interests? In approaching this question we must first of all note that the anti-Muslim campaign does not have anything like the national sweep that the Sinhalese racists would pretend that it has. The established pattern is this: racist bull-thugs bellow forth their anti-Muslim hatred through the microphone; mayhem may be unleashed but only through the agency of bull-thugs brought in from outside the area; on the next day the traditional relations of peace, amity, and co-operation between the Sinhalese and the Muslims are restored. This has been the pattern after two years of a hate campaign that has been blatantly backed by the Government. This could change through presently unforeseeable circumstances, but up to now the hate campaign has failed to ignite Sinhalese mass hatred against the Muslims. On the contrary, there are pointers indicating that there is mass Sinhalese Buddhist disgust over the behaviour of the BBS and other extremist groups.

The obvious reason for the failure is that the anti-Muslim campaign does not have the backing of the Government as a whole or of the Sinhalese Buddhists as a whole. Within the Government the main backer of the BBS is the JHU, widely regarded as a racist neo-Fascist Party, which significantly has no mass support. What about the support outside the Government? A pointer was provided by the fact that although a wide array of civil society groups spoke out against the anti-Muslim campaign, only the head of the Amarapura sect did so – in an exceptionally mild statement – while the Mahanayakes of the other three chapters have been silent. It is presumed therefore that a powerful segment of the Sangha is with the BBS. How important is that fact? I don’t know, but I do know that there are Sinhalese Buddhist political analysts who cite evidence indicating that the political power of the Sangha has been highly over-estimated. Where then does the power of the BBS come from? It has had the confidence to speak contemptuously both of the Government and of the Maha Sangha, and remain unscathed. The reasonable surmise is that it has the backing of a group or groups within the armed forces. Those groups could try to bring off a military coup – which seems unlikely – but they certainly have the power of assassinating people. It appears – from the way the situation is developing – that we will do well to bear in mind the assassinations of S.W.R.D. Bandaranaike and of John F. Kennedy.

(To be continued) izethhussain@gmail.com

What Next? Postscript To Anti-Muslim Riots

By Sumanasiri Liyanage -July 5, 2014 

Sumanasiri Liyanage

The Government of Sri Lanka (GoSL) has realized some damage control operations are needed to repair its tarred image as a result of the recent anti-Muslim riots in the island. Minister Senarathna gave an open apology to Muslims in his electorate, Beruwala, where ugly riots took place. GoSL promised it would rebuild houses and properties destroyed by the mob. Rev Kirama Wimalajothi resigned from the leadership of the Bodu Bala Sena(Army of the Buddhist Power). President reiterated his banal statement that his government stands for every Sri Lankan irrespective of her/ his nationality or religion. Nonetheless, like in 1983, the blame was placed on the so-called extremism of minorities.

Responding to his mother’s more realistic observation –“I don’t expect I will see peace in my life time”- Shivan, the main character of Shyam Selvadurai’s recent novel –The Hungry Ghosts- anticipated “I hope one side wins and ends all this, for the sake of the poor people caught in between”. Shivan’s surrealistic image in fact materialized in the dawn of May 18, 2009 at a narrow sea belt in Mullivaikkal. It seems that both the mother and the son were partly correct since they appeared to have two different things in mind. For Shivan it was the end of armed conflict and for the mother it was peace writ large. The recent events unfolded in Aluthgama, Dharga Town and Beruwala have time and again showed that peace had not yet arrived in Sri Lanka, not definitely to poor and marginalized people. Muslims inhabited in those South Western towns were subjected to vicious and inhumane attacks by ‘Sinhala Buddhist’ mobs instigated by Bodu Bala Sena (army of Buddhist power) that receives both open and tacit blessings of Mahinda Rajapaksa regime. Can the events in these three south-western towns be explicated as isolated and exceptional incidents as the government had been trying to paint them? Are both parties (Sinhala Buddhists and Muslims) to be blamed equally as some government ministers had openly claimed and the country’s defense establishment had indicated?             Read More

Govt. shedding crocodile tears to pacify Arab nations – UNP

Aluthgama violence against Muslims: 

by Zacki Jabbar-July 4, 2014

The UNP said yesterday that the government having used the Bodu Bala Sena (BBS) to attack Muslims in Alutgama and Beruwela was now shedding crocodile tears to pacify the Arab nations.

Matara District UNP MP, Mangala Samaraweera, addressing a news conference in Colombo, said that leading figures in the Rajapaksa regime controlled the BBS like a puppet on a string, to unleash violence as and when it thought necessary.

The strategy of the government was quite clear. It wanted to create conflicts and tensions among different communities with a view to covering up its economic failure and corruption.The BBS and other Sinhala extremist organisations were being nurtured and protected by very powerful persons in the ruling UPFA, MP Samaraweera claimed.

The MP said that having achieved its objective of creating mayhem and chaos by instigating communal disturbances in Alutgama and Beruwela, the government was looking for scapegoats though the whole country knew that a clash between two drivers had been distorted and exploited to unleash ethnic strife and loss of life and property.

The BBS leader Galagodaatte Gnanasara Thera was well protected by the powers that be Samaraweera noted, adding that the thera had been questioned by the Police over two weeks after the June 15 violence merely to give an impression to the international community and especially Arab countries that investigations were being carried out.

Commenting on the United States decision to cancel the entry permit that was issued to Galagodaatte Gnanasara Thera, MP Samaraweera said that all right thinking people would welcome the move.

Sri Lanka accused of turning blind eye to violence

In this Friday, June 27, 2014 photo, a Sri Lankan Muslim woman watches as army soldiers salvage damaged household items from the debris of a burnt house in Darga Town in Aluthgama, about 50 kilometers (31 miles) south of Colombo, Sri Lanka. The onslaught by the Bodu Bala Sena (BBS), a hardline Buddhist group, killed two Muslims in the worst religious violence Sri Lanka has seen in decades. (Eranga Jayawardena/Associated Press)

BY ASSOCIATED PRESS July 5 at 2:12 AM

ALUTHGAMA, Sri Lanka — The attackers stormed in close to midnight, tearing through town with gasoline bombs and clubs before carting away piles of cash and jewelry they stole from Muslim families in this tiny corner of Sri Lanka.

Sri Lanka Accused of Turning Blind Eye to Violence by Maria Anderson

Stop Blaming The Victims

By Ameer M Faaiz -July 5, 2014

Ameer M. Faaiz

In the weeks that have passed since 6-15 (15

^th June) when Sri Lanka witnessed one of the worst outbreaks of anti-Muslim violence, the official narrative has been as chilling as the events.

The government initially dismissed the violence that has so far claimed at least four lives directly, displaced over 370 families and damaged property worth about Rs. 5.8 billion[1] as a “minor incident”.

Blaming the Victims

The Sri Lanka Government’s first formal statement on the events was delivered at the 26^th session of the United Nations Human Rights Council, four days after the riots. In a shocking omission of facts, the statement makes no reference to the pre-planned rally held that day in Aluthgama where prominent members of theBodu Bala Sena (BBS) addressed a gathering of over 7,000 people, declaring the end of all those who laid a finger on a Sinhalese.[2] Instead the government statement narrated two other incidents, both of which positioned Buddhist monks as victims and Muslims as culprits. The first was an alleged assault on a Buddhist monk by three Muslim youth. The second, described as the ‘incident that led to the violence’ alleged the stoning of monks and other individuals as they were ‘passing a Mosque in Dharga Town’.

The official stance currently formulated is that nebulous and unnamed Muslim extremists are to blame. Following widespread condemnation of the violence, both at home and internationally, Buddhist extremist groups and political parties represented in the ruling alliance were quick to shift the blame to unseen Muslim extremists.

Read More

Probe this claim

Editorial-July 4, 2014

Security is reported to have been tightened in some places along India’s southern littoral in view of intelligence warnings that foreign terrorists might operate through Sri Lanka to mount attacks on that country.

Time was when terrorists used India’s soil to mount attacks here. Towards the latter stages of the Vanni war, arms and ammunition for the LTTE came through Tamil Nadu. It is a supreme irony that today India is worrying about its terrorists using Sri Lanka as a transit point.

An immediate probe into India’s allegation is called for. If it is it true action must be taken urgently to neutralise threats to India’s national security. This country must not be allowed to be used by any terrorist outfit to carry out attacks on either India or any other nation in the region or even elsewhere. Terrorism must be eliminated root and branch. The world has become a dangerous place today owing to various psychos unleashing mindless violence to achieve their macabre goals with some nations adopting double standards on terrorism.

Sri Lanka has already become a transit point for drug and human smugglers as could be seen from the detection of huge consignments of narcotics and the capture of boatloads of illegal migrants. Sri Lanka has been named as one of the worst countries for visa-free travel, according to the British media. It has been bracketed with twenty countries such as Eritrea, North Korea, Sudan and DR Congo! The on-going UNHRC war crimes probe has also damaged its image internationally. Atop all this has come India’s allegation that foreign terrorist groups are operating from here. The government must get cracking to prevent this country being branded a rogue state.

Meanwhile, India’s claim at issue points to the need for Indo-Lanka joint naval patrols which will help not only keep India’s terrorists at bay but also tackle the much vexed problem of illegal fishing which has strained the relations between the two countries.
 

The grim reaper riding pillion

Motorcyclists in this country seem to have a death wish if their rashness on busy roads is anything to go by. On seeing them weave through traffic or zip across busy intersections or dangerously overtake monstrous container carriers other road users wonder whether they are trying to beat the speed of light and travel back into the past. Little surprise they account for the highest number of fatal road accidents. Last year motorcycles were involved in 723 out of 2,190 fatal road accidents.

The latest road mishap involving a motorcycle has been reported from Colombo. On Thursday night, a motorcyclist who entered the Colombo-Katunayake expressway at breakneck speed, defying police orders, was killed in a crash. Another person was seriously injured. There have been several such instances where motorcyclists including some foreigners entered the expressways.

It is against this backdrop that a harebrained proposal to open the expressways for motorcyclists should be viewed. That move was mulled over some time ago to increase the toll income, but a group of intelligent officials managed to knock some sense into the government worthies and their advisors concerned, we are told. On the one hand that scheme would not have been feasible in that one who uses a motorcycle to minimise travel expenses cannot afford to use toll roads. On the other hand, motorcyclists would have started dying in their numbers besides unleashing hell on expressway as they do on other roads. A better way for the government to increase its revenue will be to reduce toll charges so that more vehicles will use the two expressways.

If motorcyclists are allowed to use expressways by any chance the government had better allow morticians to operate from all entry/exit points on those roads.

India fears growth of fundamentalism in Sri Lanka after riots

Dipanjan Roy Chaudhury, ET Bureau Jul 4, 2014------------------------------------------------(Counter-terrorism experts…)

NEW DELHI: Security experts have expressed serious concerns over the recent riots in Sri Lanka, and have stressed the need for Colombo to take steps to control the situation, fearing that riots may be exploited by 'foreign elements' wanting to carry out a terror strikes in southern states of India.

Delhi is equally apprehensive the riots may have been encouraged by elements wanting to create a situation whereby the affected Muslims in Sri Lanka get marginalised and thereby offer a breeding ground for recruiting terror operatives. The matter, which did not get much media coverage in India, is likely to be raised with Colombo on an urgent basis, an official source told ET.

The fears have got compounded with the recent admission of the Sri Lankan Foreign Minister GL Peiris about 'foreign instigation' behind the communal riots and killing in different parts of Sri Lanka. As many as 119 people, including 95 Sinhalese and 24 Muslims, have already been arrested in connection with the riots by Sri Lankan authorities. Lankan Criminal Investigation Department (CID) has been grilling the General Secretary of Bodu Bala Sena (BBS) or Army of Buddhist Forces, Galagoda Atthe Gnanasara, and its National Organiser, Witharandeniye Nanda, for the riots that have killed several and injured many.

Counter-terrorism experts are uncomfortable with the silence of Jamaat-ud-Dawa Chief Hafiz Saeed, and see a larger game plan of the ISI/Lashkar to wait and watch before going on a Jehadi recruitment drive.

Indian security & intelligence agencies need to analyse whether this is yet another attempt by the formerLashkar-e-Taebbya boss Saeed to use the riots for religious indoctrination in the island nation and try to encircle India. This will further prompt Delhi to move Colombo on the issue, as the aggrieved nationals could be brainwashed to join extremist groups, an official hinted.

Sri Lanka, on its part, would need to review its bilateral engagement with Pakistan, to prevent its socio-ethnic fabric, which is yet to heal from the wounds of the 'LTTE era', to get re-scarred with a possibly more damaging 'Islamic radicalisation'.

The worries of India are not without reason, considering it comes close on heels of the arrest of Sri Lankan national Mohammed Sakir Husain's who recced India for terror strikes.

“Yes, We Took Pictures With Solheim, Do We Need Anybody’s Permission?” Gnanasara Asks Rajitha

July 5, 2014 

Further exposing links between the government and the Bodu Bala Sena (BBS) inadvertently; its General Secretary Galagoda Atte Gnanasara has acknowledged the allegations levelled at him by Government Minister Rajitha Senaratne, stating he only met the ‘patriotic factions of the Tamil diaspora’.

Gnanasara

While threatening to take legal action against Rajitha for statements he has made alleging links between Gnanasara and the LTTE, the monk has acknowledged his meetings with the Tamil diaspora during his foreign trips but had added none of them involved pro-LTTE factions.

Furthermore, he had questioned, “It is true we visited Norway; it is a well-known fact. Yes we took pictures with Solheim! We would even pose for a picture with Obama if we got the opportunity to do so. Do we need anybody’s permission to do that?”

Few days ago Colombo Telegraph revealed the picture that is being circulated alongside Rajitha’s allegations of Gnanasara maintaining links with the Tamil diaspora and LTTE members, is in fact an image taken last year during the monk’s visit to France and that those posing on his either side are in fact strong supporters of the government.

Meanwhile, it was also reported in Sri Lankan media that Gnanasara, while being questioned by the CID earlier this week over the speech he made in Aluthgama on June 15 – that has been widely held at the instigating point for the anti-Muslim violence that erupted in Southern Sri Lanka – had ‘instructed’ the CID to grill Justice Minister Rauff Hakeem instead.

In his four-hour long statement, Gnanasara had rejected allegations of instigating the anti-Muslim violence and had informed the CID that those who should be held responsible are the ‘muslim extremists’ and ‘Muslim leaders who have shed crocodile tears and made deceitful claims’.

The Disappearance Of Ananda Sunil – 27th July 1983

By Rajan Hoole -July 5, 2014

Rajan Hoole

Political Murders, the Commissions and the Unfinished Task – 5

Ananda (Kochikade) Sunil, a Sinhalese, was chief organiser for the SLFP in Premadasa’s pocket borough in Colombo North and held this post through the presidential election and referendum of 1982 and the local council elections of May 1983. He was a strong supporter of Vijaya Kumaratunge, then a prominent leader in the SLFP. He is said to have earlier been a UNP supporter. It is also generally known that Premadasa had been making overtures to draw Vijaya Kumaratunge into the UNP as other sections of the UNP had been making overtures to Anura Bandaranaike and Maithripala Senanayake in the context of divisions engineered within the SLFP.

The following account of Ananda Sunil’s disappearance is taken from a Civil Rights Movement document of October 1991 titled Presentation on the Climate of Impunity and from press reports in October-November 1983.

Sunil lived in a flat in Newham Square, Kochikade. On 27th July 1983 at the height of communal violence, there was curfew on during the night. At 10.00 PM while Sunil’s wife Kodippili Seetha and Sunil were in bed, three armed police officers walked into the flat and dragged Sunil out into a vehicle, assaulting him on the way.

A woman of the area told Sunil’s father, Jananayake, that Sunil had been abducted by the Police. Jananayake went to his son’s home with his wife Mary Catherine and his sister. On the way, he met two eyewitnesses Hemasiri and Pitche who identified two of the police officers concerned as Inspector Sharvanandan of Kotahena Police and Sergeant Ekanayake of Jampettah Police. At Sunil’s home he found Seetha carrying her daughter and crying. By then, a crowd had gathered on the road. Later, on the road, Jananayake and a companion met Inspector Shanthikumar who lived in that area coming in a vehicle. He later took them to Kotahena Guardroom and had the father fetch Seetha. Shanthikumar told Seetha that he had  told told Sunil that evening of the impending incident.

Read More

SL placed among worst countries for visa free travel

 

July 4, 2014

Sri Lanka has been included in the worst 20 nations for visa free travel by the latest Henley and Partners Visa Restrictions Index, according to a news report in The Independent newspaper published in the UK yesterday.

Sri Lanka has been placed at No 9 of 20 nations; namely Afghanistan, Iraq, Somalia, Pakistan, Palestinian Territory, Eritrea, Nepal, Sudan, Sri Lanka, Lebanon, Kosovo, Syria, South Sudan, Libya, DR Congo, Myanmar, Iran, Djibouti, Angola and North Korea.

Finland, Sweden and the UK top the list with 173 countries granting their nationals visa-free or visa-on-arrival access. On 172, the U.S. comes second along with Denmark, Germany and Luxembourg.

Developed in cooperation with Canada’s International Air Transport Association, the U.K.-based annual index is a global ranking of countries according to the travel freedom their citizens enjoy. The 2014 survey investigated a total of 219 destination countries and territories, and was created based on regulations valid July 1, 2013.

The top 20 nations for visa-free travel are Finland, Sweden, United Kingdom, Denmark, Germany, Luxembourg, United States, Belgium, Italy, Netherlands, Canada, France, Ireland, Japan, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Austria, New Zealand and Switzerland.

 But a Lankan who had travelled widely said it was smooth sailing in the above countries only if you were primarily from a white skinned nation, but for others even with visas it was second grade treatment.The study by residence and citizenship planning group Henley & Partners found the other EU countries in the top ten are Denmark, Germany, Luxembourg, Belgium, Italy and the Netherlands.

The organisation has been producing an annual Visa Restrictions Index since 2006, to represent the freedom of travel for passport holders, as well as the international relations and status of countries.

Countries rising up the table - which asserts that there are 219 countries in the world - include South Korea, which is now placed 24th with 166, Malta in 27th with 163, and Hong Kong at 35th with 152.

Other countries improving their scores this year are St Kitts and Nevis, Antigua and Barbuda, the United Arab Emirates, Venezuela, Zimbabwe and India.

The Independent quoted a Henley & Partners spokesman having said: ‘In today’s globalized world, visa restrictions are an important tool for governments to control the movement of foreign nationals across borders. Visas are a standard requirement for most countries as certain non-nationals wish to enter their territory. At the same time, visa requirements or the lack thereof, are also an indication of the relationship between individual nations and the status of a country within the international community of nations.

Has the Australian government been complicit in the disappearance of 153 Tamil asylum seekers?

03/07/2014

Over the weekend, reports emerged that the Australian government had intercepted two boats carrying at least this number of individuals (including 37 children) somewhere off the coast of Christmas Island, Australia. The asylum seekers, of Sri Lankan Tamil origin, are reported to have embarked from the Indian state of Tamil Nadu.

Despite assurances from Tony Abbot over the last 48 hours that Sri Lanka, is ‘a country at peace’, there is strong documentary evidence that many returned Tamil asylum seekers have been subjected to torture and sexual violence at the hands of Sri Lankan security forces over the past few years. Worryingly, the Sri Lankan High Commissioner has already confirmed that the 153 individuals, if returned, will face a magistrates court upon arrival.

This move, if carried out by the Australian government, would therefore clearly constitute a violation of Australia’s obligations under international law – specifically, that individuals must not be involuntarily returned to a country where he or she has a well-founded fear of persecution. Until the status of these individuals can be properly established in accordance with fundamental refugee protection principles, any plans to transfer the passengers must be suspended. Already the UNHCR has expressed ‘profound concern’ about the manner in which these individuals have been intercepted and handled, amid reports that they are being subjected to the most rudimentary of screening processes at sea by immigration officials. 

To urge the Australian government to break its silence about its treatment of these asylum seekers, and to issue a reminder that it must adhere to its moral and legal duties to these individuals, please email the Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott, along with the Minister for Immigration and Border Protection Scott Morrisonhere, and at minister@immi.gov.au.You can also voice your concerns to them via twitter, @TonyAbbottMHR and @ScottMorrisonMP, using the hashtag #wherearethe153.

Here is an example of what you might wish to say:

Dear Prime Minister Abbott and Minister Morrison,

I am profoundly concerned about the welfare and fate of the 153 asylum seekers (including children) reported to have been intercepted by the Australian Navy over the weekend, and the emerging reports of plans to transfer them to the Sri Lankan Navy. 

As a matter of moral concern, I urge you to disclose information about the welfare, safety and whereabouts of these individuals. As a matter of legal concern, I also call on the government to clarify what next steps it intends to take with regards to screening and processing of these individuals, and whether plans are currently underway, or have been implemented, to transfer them to the Sri Lankan Navy. 

It is imperative that such details are made public in order to establish whether Australia is acting in accordance with its obligations under the Refugee Convention – specifically, that individuals must not be involuntarily returned to a country where he or she has a well-founded fear of persecution. Despite recent claims by your government that Sri Lanka is a country ‘at peace’, the persecution of returned Tamil asylum seekers has been well documented in recent years. If it is the case that plans are underway for these asylum seekers to be returned to Sri Lanka, Australia is at serious risking of violating international law. 

Until the status of these individuals can be properly established in accordance with fundamental refugee protection principles, any plans to transfer the passengers must be suspended pending a full and transparent screening process. 

Yours sincerely, 

[Your name]